Nearly two-thirds of Connecticut voters favor the death penalty for murder, in general, while even more favor it for Steven Hayes, who has been convicted of killing a Cheshire woman and her two daughters, a Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday shows.
The poll shows that 65 percent of those surveyed support the death penalty in general -- slightly higher than in recent years, when support has "hovered" about 60 percent, Quinnipiac Poll director Douglas Schwartz said.
When asked specifically about Hayes, 76 percent said they support the death penalty. Hayes was found guilty Oct. 5 in the 2007 home invasion that resulted in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11. Hayes now awaits the penalty phase of his trial, scheduled to begin Monday concerning his six capital-felony convictions.
Schwartz said that "support for the death penalty in a specific case can be higher than support in general. This is because some voters who oppose the death penalty in general support it for a particularly heinous crime."